Judicial Appointments: Annual Report to Parliament

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The judicial appointments annual report, covering the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004, is published tomorrow, 29 October. This year the report focuses on developments and achievements within the judicial appointments process and the work undertaken ahead of the new Judicial Appointments Commission. We have taken the opportunity to avoid duplication of data by placing the statistical tables and their supporting narrative on the departmental website at (www.dca.gov.uk). The report also shows that:
	480 appointments were made in 2003–04 from around 3,000 applications.
	Appointments, including lay appointments, of minority ethnic candidates rose by 6 per cent from 8.9 per cent in 2002–03 to 14.8 per cent and are at more than triple the 1999–2000 figure.
	Women accounted for 32.92 per cent of appointments, a slight increase on last year's figures.
	The success of the early assessment centre pilots has led to all deputy district judge competitions being conducted by assessment centres and the planned introduction of similar centres for recorder and employment tribunal competitions.
	Copies of the report will be placed in both Libraries. The report is also available on the Internet.

Citizen Information Project

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My right honourable friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Paul Boateng) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On 6 January (Official Report, col. 7WS), I announced that the Registrar General for England and Wales would lead on the next stage of development work for a UK population register. This work is being conducted by a project team based within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and is known as the citizen information project (CIP). It is concerned with whether the use of a population register would improve the quality of basic data held by government, generate efficiency savings across government and support improved public services. I am now able to update the House on progress and on the programme of work over the rest of this stage of development.
	The work has confirmed the feasibility study findings that a UK population register has the potential to generate efficiency benefits and service improvements across government. The CIP team has investigated the costs and benefits of a range of potential options for delivering a population register. It has recommended that proposals for a national identity register (NIR), as part of the Government's proposals for ID cards, mean that if ID cards were to become compulsory then it may be more cost-effective to deliver these benefits through the NIR, rather than develop a separate register. The Government have accepted this recommendation.
	The ONS is now in the second stage of project definition and will report to Ministers by June 2005. This includes examining in more detail how the NIR could function as a population register and exploring opportunities for adding value to existing database developments that could be cost-effective ahead of the NIR reaching maturity. The ONS is also exploring how efficiency and analytical requirements that cover the whole population, rather than just adults, can be met.

Gibraltar

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary (Mr Jack Straw) visited Madrid for bilateral talks with his Spanish counterpart, Miguel Angel Moratinos, on 27 October. The following joint statement was agreed at this meeting.
	"The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Spain and the United Kingdom, Miguel Angel Moratinos and Jack Straw, have met in Madrid on 27 October 2004. During their meeting they discussed Gibraltar.
	The Ministers have agreed to consider and consult further on how to establish a new forum for dialogue on Gibraltar, with an open agenda, in which Gibraltar would have its own voice. The modalities for this dialogue will be agreed by all the concerned parties.
	Minister Straw welcomes the decision of the Spanish Government to promote local co-operation between Gibraltar and its surrounding area. Both Ministers are glad about the establishment of a Joint Committee Gibraltar Government-Mancomunidad del Campo de Gibraltar to promote the identification and implementation of mutually beneficial local co-operation projects and wish to set out their support for this initiative because of its intrinsic value and the confidence-building atmosphere that it could create. It is understood that for the Spanish Government this local co-operation is within the objectives of the Spanish Government in relation to the sovereignty of Gibraltar. It is also understood that the British Government fully maintains its commitment to honour the wishes of the people of Gibraltar as set out in the preamble of the 1969 Constitution.
	In the Annex are set out several co-operation measures to facilitate the start of the work of the previously mentioned forum.
	Annex
	To explore the possibilities to reach an agreement on the airport of Gibraltar under a formula acceptable to all parties.
	To allow the inclusion of Spanish airports as alternative airports in the flight plans whose final destination is the airport of Gibraltar.
	To establish a technical working party to examine and to exchange information on the pensions issue of Spanish ex-workers in Gibraltar, without prejudice to any outcome in respect thereof.
	The Spanish Government shall allow calls at Spanish ports of all pleasure cruise liners having the port of Gibraltar as a previous or subsequent port of call, without any restriction".
	The Foreign Secretary was in contact with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, throughout these discussions. The Chief Minister authorised us to say that he was "entirely content" with the terms of the joint press release.